What you need to remember.

Opening his eyes back, Frank found himself under a large tree. The tree's shade was spread over such a large area that it almost seemed like a large hall. The weather outside in the forest was cold, but under that tree, it was warm. If Frank had to explain it in a sentence, he would have said that 'It felt like home.'

He watched Sylvia as she ordered the manikin to do something. As the manikin flew into the tree's leaves looking for something, Sylvia smiled brightly at Frank. In all sincerity, it creeped out Frank. This old lady, with a strangely alluring face that made her seem harmless, had whatsoever no light.

Ever since losing his memories, Frank had been relying on those lights to judge people around him. He was right now on high guard against this lady who had no lights since there was no way for Frank to determine what was going through her mind.

Sylvia sat on the grass and waved at Frank to join her. Frank sat beside her without much resistance. However much dangerous she seemed, she was as much intriguing too for piquing Frank's newly sharpened senses.

"People devoid of emotions have no light, Frank," Sylvia said at length which startled Frank.

"I know you have a lot of questions, but shall we have some light conversation first," Sylvia said after chuckling at Frank's perplexed face.

"Like how you are coping with your newly unlocked power?" Sylvia said leaning in.

Frank was alarmed for sure but looking at Sylvia's face, he didn't feel any reason to worry.

"It's been fine," he replied.

Sylvia chuckled and said," Is that so? I thought you might be having some difficulties replicating others' emotions."

"What do you mean by that?" (Frank asked)

"Haven't you become devoid of emotions, just like me?" Sylvia said. A gentle breeze blew as Sylvia's hair flew as Frank's bangs covered his forehead again.

Frank knew that Sylvia was someone who could be very useful. He didn't suddenly find out some insight into her character or anything, it was just that strange sense of kinship, familiarity. It was as if he was looking at himself when looked at her. He knew at that moment that Sylvia was someone like him; strange.

He moved his bangs back with his hand away from his forehead and mumbled," It was a pain, mimicking everything."

The manikin was coming back from inside the dense tree leaves and in its hands was what seemed to be a ball of light. The manikin circled Sylvia and then handed that light ball.

"I preserved your memories with me, they seemed to be too much to be handled by that little girl," Sylvia said handing over the light ball to Frank. "To get what you want, isn't this the first step you need?"

"Thank you," Frank didn't know what else to say. He said that and ate the ball.

"How did you know you had to eat it?" (Sylvia asked)

"Just felt like I should." (Frank stammered while swallowing the thing after chewing properly)

"Right, you would know naturally, after all, you're one of us," Sylvia laid Frank back as she said that. " Recover your memories for now."

Frank closed his eyes and fell asleep. As he slept, a dream-like play started in his mind displaying all his life up until that moment. Everything he had experienced till that point was getting back to him as that falling feeling like when you remember something that is so obvious.

Having recollected each fragment of his lost memory, Frank opened his eyes.

"How was it?" Sylvia asked looking down at his face.

"It was pathetic," Frank blurted out without hesitation. "I can't believe that foolish mass of uselessness was me."

Sylvia chuckled and said, "Good thing I released your sealed mana cores."

"What do you mean by that?" (Frank)

"When you were drowning that day, I noticed that you were like me but couldn't use your power to save yourself. And your reaction to water was weird. So I looked into your mana cores, they were blocked."

"Blocked?"

"Yes, like they could convert atmospheric magic into mana, but couldn't absorb any in the first place to convert. You were like magic sucking sponge with how much hungry your mana cores were. You must have made a lot of people leak magic when in contact with you."

"I guess, I did." (Frank remembered when he absorbed the mana from 'old-hag' back then in the library)

"Well, I just tweaked around a bit and the seals were released. That was quite poor handiwork there. I can believe it made you suffer almost the entirety of your life."

"Sylvia, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Back then, I seemed to kill people with grey light. Why was that? I used to think it was because grey is the color of malice and I was naturally repulsive towards such people. But I don't think I do that now though."

Sylvia stared at Frank's face for some time and then said, "Grey isn't a color signifying malice. It's a color that tells that the person has killed a witch in the past. The witch's blessing we have in our second mana core doesn't make us loyal to the witch because we are healers, but it makes it so that we cannot ignore the hostility shown against a witch. Because you didn't have complete control over the sealed mana core, it rampaged on its own."

Frank simply nodded and then looked up at the sky. It really was a beautiful day.

"You don't have any more questions?" Sylvia asked.

"You'll tell me everything I need to know anyway, but for now, I have just a single question," Frank said as he kept staring at the sky. "What am I?"

"A bi-core being," said Sylvia. "We tend to have two mana cores, one innate healer's core and another acquired by a witch's blessing. We are very powerful in general. But we are devoid of emotions. Unlike witches, who have to become indifferent to keep their power, our power itself makes us indifferent. We usually pass by mimicking other people's emotions in normal society. We are basically overpowered psychopaths."

"Ok," Frank said as he stood up and started to walk out from the large tree's shade.

"Is it time for you to go already?" Sylvia mumbled following him.

Walking silently side by side to the edge of Death lake, Sylvia thought the time passed too quickly. The sun was still up high, but Frank was still too long absent from where he was supposed.

"Visit again, there is a lot I need to tell you," Sylvia said as she patted his head which he visibly evaded but was caught forcefully.

Frank nodded and flew back.

Watching him fly away, Sylvia smiled an eerie smile and said, "My, my, looks like this little one has found his obsession already. Did I mention that our kind tends to be obsessive and violent too? Anyways, I'll tell him next time."

And she once again disappeared into the forest.